Second Time's the Charm
by Bright-Eyed Athena
Summary: Stryker wants Ben and his 'luck' for his special team. When he refuses, Stryker kidnaps his sister for a little added incentive. Now all Ben has to do is stop the team from finding out about his sister's ability. With Wade around... good luck.
1. At the Nightclub

Strobe lights flashed as the dancers pulsed to the beat. The sea of bodies bounced as one, almost as if they were waves in an ocean. Many had their eyes closed, giving themselves to the beat rolling out of large speakers around the dance floor.

It was a typical scene in a nondescript nightclub on an ordinary Friday night in the never sleeping city of New York.

A balding bartender filled glasses with alcohol off to one side, as customers shouted their orders over the blaring music. Plush red couches ran along the other edges of the room, some carrying hordes of drunk women getting hit on by sleazy older men, others with small groups of younger men having a few beers with their mates and eyeing up the pretty women who cast curious glances at them before dissolving into fits of giggles with their friends.

One younger girl sat by herself on one of the couches. There was nothing typical or nondescript or ordinary about her. If anything, she was the opposite. With her long wavy honey coloured hair and beautiful face she could have been another face in the crowd. What set her apart was the look of utter boredom mixed with annoyance on her face. She fidgeted with her dark purple and low cut dress, sipped a glass of water and blatantly ignored all advances men tried to make her way. A nightclub wasn't a place you came to to be bored. It was a place where inhibitions and caution were thrown to the wind, and you replaced yourself with a carefree and untroubled version. The girl was obviously not at home in a place like this, or was wishing she was somewhere else.

However, to the brown-haired tall man seated at the bar, there was something else that brought her to his attention. To be more specific, something they wanted from her brother. With a sigh the man downed his shot in one go. As his boss had said, second time's the charm.

Shelly's POV

I had the worst friends in the world. Not only had they abandoned me to go dance with some guys but they had also dragged me into this nightclub in the first place when they knew I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was in no frame of mind to party. I also had the worst headache, which meant I couldn't even drown my sorrows with alcohol. I was in a foul mood and sent death glares at any guy that approached me, after I while I gave up on that and just ignored them.

I considered leaving but my ride home was currently gyrating against some random on the dance floor. There was no way I was walking home in these heels either, not unless I never wanted to walk again afterwards. I silently cursed them, I could have worn my other ones which were much more comfortable, but no, I had to go for stylish, didn't I? Today was obviously not my day.

I was having the worst luck today...wait a minute. I narrowed my eyes. This was all Ben's fault! I can't believe I hadn't worked it all out sooner! I slammed my glass of water down on the low table in front of me.

"Stupid Ben with his stupid luck..." I muttered under my breath as I got up to call him. He was going to pay for this, big time! With all my fuming I hadn't noticed a cute tall guy approach. He snaked an arm around my shoulders and pulled me back down on the couch.

"What's up beautiful?" He said with a wink, as he placed a glass down on the table next to mine.

"If you don't get your arm off of me in exactly two seconds I'll snap it off and shove it where the sun don't shine." Normally I was a lovely person, but I was a little grumpy at the moment.

"Hey, there's no need for that. Can't a guy buy a drink for a pretty girl?" He was trying to be charming but I was still pretty close to following through with my threat.

I gave him an especially threatening death glare. Don't underestimate a girl in a foul mood wearing killer heels. I swear that death stare could have stopped a team of highly trained ninjas in their tracks.

He held his hands out in front of him, "Ok, ok, I'm leaving..." He picked up his glass and left, leaving me alone to continue coming up with ways to murder my brother.

I took another sip of my water as I mentally brainstormed. I could stab him with a fork... back my car over him... I swear I was a nice person normally, honest.

What else? For some reason my head was starting to feel heavy and it was getting hard to think. I looked at my glass and saw it wasn't my glass at all. What had that guy been drinking? Elephant tranquilizers? My vision was starting to go to and I was starting to lose control of my limbs. I slumped back onto the couch and struggled not to black out. What...was...going...on? I couldn't remember who I was anymore. I felt strong hands lift me off of the couch, and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

I saw the lights on the ceiling of the nightclub flash by overhead. I think I was being carried, but I everything was fuzzy and constantly going in and out of focus. I felt cool air brush my face as we exited the building but then my vision went completely.

The last thing I remember hearing was a van starting up and then nothing.

**AN- Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter! Shout out to Magnira for allowing me to pitch this story to her and letting me bounce ideas around. You're awesome! Please review, the next chapter's going to be interesting! :D**


	2. Meeting with Stryker

2 days earlier

Shelly's POV

"Hey Shelly! Turn it down would ya?"

I rolled my eyes but got up from my desk and turned the volume down on my speakers. My big brother Ben was always complaining about my music. It's not my fault I like it loud or that he doesn't share my taste in music.

Glancing at the time, I swore under my breath and ran downstairs. Looks like dinner was going to be late. Again. Although I don't think my brother really minded, as long as he got something to eat other than microwave meals, those things can really mess with your head, when you eat them for like, a year straight.

Grabbing some ingredients out of the fridge and pantry respectively I set about throwing together a quick pasta. It was better than nothing, and I do make mean pasta. Plus, my pasta was Ben's favourite, and I was trying to butter him up for meeting my new boyfriend. He hasn't been exactly thrilled about the last couple. Tom was supposed to be picking me up for a date in an hour, so I yelled a quick, "Ben! Dinner's ready!" before taking mine up to my room so I could scarf it down while getting ready.

An hour later when the doorbell rang, I sprang out of my room and practically flew down the stairs to the front door. Ben still beat me; I swear he had been waiting there anyway. My really tall and equally annoying brother whose long shaggy brown hair hung in his eyes was wearing his most intimidating outfit, his black motorcycle jacket and worn jeans. Ben opened the front door, and crossed his arms whilst blocking the doorway.

"Yes?" He asked, I could tell he was doing the whole stare-into-his-eyes-until-the-kid-wets-himself routine that had worked on my first few boyfriends.

"Erm... I'm Tom... I'm...er...here to pick up Shelly." That was my boyfriend, Tom.

"Are you really?" now Ben was giving Tom an opportunity to back away before it got any worse.

"Yes?" Tom made it sound like he was asking Ben whether he was or not. I mean Ben can be intimidating, but come on, he's not that bad. I'm sure there are warlords in China who are worse.

"And what exactly do you intend to do tonight?" Ben could be really fatherly-like when he wanted to be.

I decided it was time to save Tom before Ben caused a few 'accidents'.

I pushed past my brother, to greet Tom. He was kind of cute, he was tall, not as tall as Ben but taller than me, and was a red head. . He was wearing a light green shirt and some dark jeans. But the thing I really loved about him was his hot green eyes. I melted like butter when I looked into them

"Hi Tom. Bye Ben. I'll be back before midnight." I pushed Tom back towards his car.

"Tom!" my big brother called out, "If she's not back before 10, I will come looking for you."

Tom gulped and nodded, whilst I rolled my eyes and glared back at my brother. He was such a kill joy.

Ben's POV

I watched Shelly drive away with that jerk, Tim or Troy or something. He better look after my little sister or I'd have to get my baseball bat out. And I really didn't want to have to do that. Do you know how long it takes to get blood off a baseball bat?

I sighed and leaned against the doorway, Shelly didn't understand. I was only trying to protect her, protect us. Mum and Dad weren't around anymore, so I have to look after her. I knew Shelly hid behind her grief by pretending to be tough and going out at all hours of the night. But we only had each other, and I'd be damned if I was going to lose her to some douche bag boyfriend.

Heading back inside, I slammed the front door behind me. No matter how many of her boyfriends I managed to scare off, she always manages to find a new one. Well, this one wouldn't last too long either; it'd give it two days, and then work my magic.

Heading back into the garage I turned my own music on and got back to doing what I love most; fixing my car. The hood was already popped and pieces of the engine were scattered all over the ground. I loved a challenge, and I wasn't backing down until this baby purred like new again.

That's when I noticed I wasn't alone in the garage. I grabbed a wrench and held it in front of me. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing, besides you don't really need a weapon when you have luck on your side. "Who are you?" I demanded, my tone threatening.

The mysterious stranger didn't seem afraid, "My name is Major William Stryker." He was a middle aged man, tall and a little imposing. I bristled, imposing was my thing. He was also wearing a military uniform, decorated with many awards. Good on him.

I narrowed my eyes, "What do you want?"

He smirked, like he knew something I didn't know. That was when I noticed the Asian guy. He was sitting in a corner, twirling a gun on his finger. My wrench was going to do so much against that. He was pretty tall, with thick black hair and wearing a clean pressed white shirt. He too smirked and looked a little too cocky. I decided he was definitely going down a peg or two.

"I know about your gift, Ben," my eyes widened. Has this guy been stalking me? "I know how 'lucky' you are," he continued, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers when he said the word lucky, "I want you to join my team, it's for people gifted like yourself. You would be serving your country in a unique way. And you would of course, receive a handsome salary for the effort, plus food, a place to stay and all the beer you can drink."

I considered it for about half a second, "You can take your offer and shove it up your ass," he looked a little taken aback, I bet cocky Asian guy over there doesn't talk to him like that. "Now get off my property before you regret it."

Stryker didn't look too pleased, "Don't say I didn't give you the option to come quietly." He nodded at the Asian guy, "Zero."

I laughed, "Is that Zero as in the number of brain cells you have?"

Zero narrowed his eyes at me, and aimed his gun in my direction. He pulled out a lethal looking syringe too. That couldn't be good. That was when he tripped over a piece of engine that had been lying on the ground and knocked himself out cold when he smacked his head on my car. In the process he managed to stab himself with the needle too. That was going to hurt when he woke up.

"Great," I told Stryker, "Now I'll have to get that dent out." Although I couldn't hide my grin, having the ability to enhance luck can really have its advantages. I always get the last slice of pie.

Stryker reached into his jacket for a stun gun and pointed it at me. He pulled the trigger but frowned when nothing happened. He tried again, same result. He pointed the stun gun down and started fiddling with some controls. That's when the stun gun finally worked, when it shocked Stryker in the foot. Some people have the worst luck. He just stared at me, shocked (hahaha, get it?) and confused.

I grinned again, before ditching the wrench, picking up a 2x4 and bringing it down on his head.

It took a while to load them both into the boot of my other car. It was a little squashed in there with the both of them, but they weren't awake to complain. Although I had a feeling that 'Zero' wouldn't mind. I drove them out miles into a deserted part of town and dumped them in an alley way.

"You two are going to have some killer headaches when you wake up." I took all their guns and cell phones before driving back home. No one messes with me, but I had a feeling that this wasn't over.

I sat deep in thought as my body drove home. I wasn't really paying attention, but I still made it home in one piece. As long as I had my luck, I knew those bozos couldn't lay their hands on me. So why did I have a sinking feeling in my gut?

**AN- Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. Next chapter, Shelly will be waking up. But where? And who will be there when she does?? *mysterious music plays***


	3. Introducing Team X

It feels like I've been sleeping for years. I wonder if this is how Sleeping Beauty felt. Although I'm sure she never had to wake up to a pounding headache and people talking really loudly nearby. Where's my Prince Charming anyway? Shouldn't he be giving me a kiss of true love right about now?

Stuff him, I'm too hungry and annoyed to wait around for some random in tights to kiss me. Argh, what would it take for those people to stop talking so loudly? I would gladly give a kidney at this point. Groaning, I roll over and open my eyes. Wait. This isn't my bed, and those people talking aren't on my TV. What is going on here?

I sit up groggily, which shouldn't be possible because I didn't drink anything last night. Wait. Last night. Flashes of the night before came flooding back to me. The nightclub. Abandonment by so called 'friends'. Weirdo stranger guy hitting on me. Weirdo stranger guy switching our drinks. Drinking possible elephant tranquilizer. Passing out.

Now I was waking up on hard concrete. Where the hell was I? The nightclub people hadn't tossed me into the street for passing out had they? I looked around me, whilst trying to clear my head; I wasn't having much success though. The first odd thing I noticed was that I was in some sort of wire cage, it wasn't very big and when I reached out to touch it, to see if it was real, it zapped me!

"Son of a..." I muttered whilst sticking my finger in my mouth. The cage was electrocuted. What was going on here? It was then that I noticed what was beyond my cage. There were loads of other cages exactly like mine but most of them were empty. The ones furthest away contained people. They were the ones talking really loudly. To be more precise it echoed in here so it wasn't really their fault they had woke me up. They were wearing orange jumpsuits whilst I still had my low cut purple dress and killer heels on. I decided that if someone came, I was going to use them as a weapon, I'm sure I could stab someone with them.

Someone did come, but he was clever enough not to enter my cage, instead he opted for standing just outside it. "My name is Major William Stryker." He told me. He was middle aged, and dressed in an Army uniform.

"Why am I in here? What do you want from me?" I demanded from him.

"It's not you we want, Michelle. You see, your brother Benjamin has a very unusual gift. I wanted him to be a part of a special little team that I've put together, but he refused. Now that I have you, he will have no choice." He smirked, probably because his evil plan was working.

"You bastard!" I spat at him, "Ben will never work for you! Now let me out of here!"

"I don't think so Michelle. Benjamin will have no say in the matter. Enjoy your stay." He walked off, gloating to himself.

I really wished I was out of this stupid cell so I could rip his spine out and shove it down his throat. Let's see him gloat then.

After what seemed like days upon days of me dying of boredom in this cell, although it was probably only an hour or two, I heard footsteps. My headache had gradually faded so now I was free to think about how I could get out of here. This time it was Stryker accompanied by a really creepy looking guy with a trench coat on. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw me in this dress. Great. I really need to add a creepy stalker to the list of weird things that have happened to me today. Behind them, Ben stormed in, looking like he was going to kill someone in a very slow and painful way.

"Ben!" I yelled out, jumping to my feet and getting as close to the wire of my cell as I could without getting electrocuted again.

"Shelly!" His face softened into one of concern when he saw me and he ran to my cell. "Get her out of there!" Ben yelled at Stryker, looking like he wanted to punch him in the face.

Stryker shook his head, "I'm afraid not Benjamin. She is my insurance policy that you will work for me."

"Don't do it Ben! I'll be alright, get out of here why'll you can." As long as they gave me something to read, I could stand this place for a while longer.

Ben narrowed his eyes at Stryker, "What's stopping me from using my power to get us both out of here?"

"If you even think about it, I will let Victor here," Stryker indicated creepy trench coat guy, who grinned, "Get better acquainted with Michelle. And if you somehow do manage to escape, getting past Victor, the rest of his highly trained team, all my guards and my state of the art security, I will make it Victor's personal mission to hunt down your little sister and you won't even find the tiny pieces that will be her remains."

I gulped. I definitely did not like the sound of that.

It looked like Victor did though, he grinned showing...fangs? That couldn't be right. I was obviously delirious from boredom.

Ben looked positively murderous, although he seemed to be considering something. Finally, he nodded, "Ok Stryker, you win. I will work for you on one condition. Shelly stays with me. There is no way I'm leaving her in here."

I slowly shook my head; there was no way Stryker was going to go for that. I looked up sharply when Stryker said, "Deal. But if she escapes, Victor will kill her."

I looked at Ben curiously, he was pretty clever. Stryker hadn't even realized he was using his ability. Granted, he only used a little, but it still worked. Victor didn't even have the brain power to work out when he was being had. He was too busy studying my chest. I crossed my arms over it, and gave him one of my death stares. He just grinned stupidly back at me.

Stryker stepped closer to my cell and entered some numbers into a keypad I hadn't noticed before. The door to my cell swung open, and I hurried out of there before Ben's luck wore off. I practically jumped on Ben and gave him the biggest hug ever.

"You shouldn't have made that deal Ben," I whispered into his ear, "Next time leave me in the cell and get the hell out of here."

"As if I would leave my little sis behind," he hugged me tightly, "I have a feeling that that Stryker guy would do anything to have me on his team anyway."

He let me go, and looked me over. His eyes narrowed, "Why are you wearing that dress?"

We had had many arguments over this dress, Ben didn't exactly approve of it. I crossed my arms, "Because that's what you wear to nightclubs."

"You were at a nightclub?" I could practically feel waves of anger coming out of him.

"So what if I was?" Ben wasn't the boss of me. I could go to a nightclub with my friends if I wanted to.

"How did you even get in? You're only 17!"

"Ever heard of a fake id?"

"Where the hell did you get a fake id?!"

"Excuse me?" Stryker stepped in between us before I could reply, "I hate to break up the family reunion but if you two are done bickering I want to introduce you to the rest of the team." He looked a little ticked off; obviously he wasn't used to this sort of behaviour.

Ben and I followed Stryker out into a hallway. Ben was still shooting angry glares my way, while I rolled my eyes and ignored him the rest of the way. I carried my shoes in one hand, I wasn't leaving them behind, and they provided a valuable stabbing tool especially when Victor brought up the rear of our little party, walking really close behind me. He made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. If you looked up creepy in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Victor there, guaranteed.

Stryker led us down that many hallways it was beginning to feel like we were in King Minos' labyrinth. Victor was definitely the Minotaur in this metaphor.

At one point, Victor stopped. I noticed straight away because I had personal space again. I glanced behind me, hoping he had left to go follow behind someone else, but he had stopped in the middle of the hallway and was sniffing the air with a confused look on his face. He kept glancing at me and then turning his head and looking at something behind him. Eventually he shook his head and caught up to us, once again resuming his position at the rear of our little party.

This place all looked the same to me. Every hallway was gloomy, grey and boring. I honestly don't know how Stryker knew his way around, it's not like there were any big flashing signs saying 'This way!' on them, but somehow we ended up... somewhere. Stryker could have been leading us in circles and I never would have known. He opened up a non-descript door, leading us into what looked a living area with a kitchen adjoined. At least that's what I think it was. I mean, there was a counter top, a fridge, microwave and some cupboards but not much else. There was an ugly brown table with chairs that had seen better days in between. The living area had a cheap TV and a horrible green couch that was losing its stuffing. Two matching armchairs were on either side of it.

Lounging around the living area were three tall guys, one was an Asian guy with a big bruise on his forehead and a sour expression on his face. Ben snickered when he saw him, and the Asian guy looked positively murderous.

Sitting next to him was an African American man who winked at me. He was wearing a cowboy hat and was talking to a younger guy sitting next to him who badly needed a shave. The last guy was short and looked nervous and like he didn't belong here.

"This is the living area where you will spend most of your time," said Stryker, "Through that door," he pointed to one across the room, "Is where your rooms are located."

He seemed to think that was enough of an explanation, instead turning to the three men watching the TV.

"Here we have Zero, Wraith and Bolt," the African American man and the younger guy smiled and nodded in greeting, whereas the Asian guy who I gathered was 'Zero' narrowed his eyes at Ben and pulled out a gun, expertly twirling it on his finger.

"I will leave them in your capable hands." He said to Wraith, who nodded, and left the room. Unfortunately, he didn't take Victor with him. He just continued to stand right behind me. I swear I felt him sniff my hair. Creepy.

Wraith, who was the African American-cowboy-hat-wearing-guy, approached us, "New recruits?" He grinned, "I'm John but you can call me Wraith." All of a sudden he disappeared into thin air and reappeared on the other side of the room, next to the fridge. He grinned, obviously enjoying the look of our faces. "Haven't you ever seen anyone teleport before?" He disappeared again, and reappeared back in front of us.

"Not really," Ben replied. "I'm Ben and this is my sister Shelly."

After getting over the shock of seeing someone move to the other side of the room without actually walking over there, I had to admit it was pretty cool. And Wraith seemed like a pretty nice guy.

"Come on, I'll find you some spare rooms," Wraith said, and we moved to follow him through the other door. I was glad to see that Victor had stopped auditioning for the role of my shadow and was now looking for alcohol in the fridge.

Just before we could get to the door, a man wearing a black sleeveless top and cargo pants, with two swords strapped to his back walked in. He was super-cute, with brown hair and a charming smile. That was what I thought before he opened his mouth.

"Yes!" he said, pumping his fist in the air when he saw me.

Ben and I exchanged confused glances. Was this guy alright upstairs?

He looked me over from head to toe, his eyes lingering on me in a way that made me wish I had never bought this dress.

"I can't believe Stryker finally came through," he said with a cocky smile, "I've been asking him to get some women on this team for years."

Ben interrupted, getting in between me and this new guy. "She isn't on the team."

"What?!" said the new guy, "That's not fair."

"Yes it is." Ben replied, "Come on, Shelly."

Grabbing my arm, Ben pulled me past the new guy and towards the bedrooms.

As we walked past him, the guy winked at me and said, "Wade Wilson at your service. Call me if you need anything. Day or night. Especially night."

I rolled my eyes, glad Ben hadn't heard that. I could tell this place was going to be interesting.

**Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me, especially with my other X-Men fic, A New Life. I appreciate all your reviews, and hope everyone enjoys this latest instalment. I apologise for leaving this fic hanging, and instead of offering excuses I give you this chapter. Happy reading!**


	4. Training? Missions? Great

**Thanks to everyone for reading, reviewing and favouriting this story, your support means a lot to me. I know it****'s been ages since I updated, but I won't bore you with my excuses. Happy reading and don't forget to review!**

After a restless night sleeping in a bedroom the size of a broom closet, I decided to get up. I know, 6am was such an ungodly hour, but I was dying to know what sort of place Ben and I had been forced to endure.

Finding some oversized grey t-shirts and track pants in the wardrobe my room came with, along with a small desk and lamp, all in a washed out brown colour, I explored the bathroom connected to my room to find it was not much better. There was a shower, a sink and a toilet, and surprisingly, some left over room to breathe. After a quick shower in which I attempted to wash Victor's breath off the back of my neck, I headed out of my room and wandered back to the kitchen/living area hoping there would be some form of breakfast available.

To my utter disappointment, there was no breakfast buffet waiting but luckily there was no one else in there either. Searching the cupboards and fridge, there weren't many edible options, but I did come across three eggs and some small pieces of bacon.

I guess it was the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen but the super-cute guy from yesterday, Wade, suddenly walked in. His hair was a little ruffled, but aside from that, he looked exactly the same as he did yesterday, clothes and all. He even had this cool katanas strapped to his back. I wondered if he would let me touch them. Probably not. They looked like his babies.

"Eggs and bacon? For me? You shouldn't have!" His face light up like a little kid at Christmas.

"You're right," I replied seriously, "I didn't."

Wade looked confused, "But...you're cooking...and... I like food."

"This is my breakfast, and Ben's," I said whilst continuing to stir the eggs, "I think there's some cereal in the cupboard that's weevil-free."

"Nope, there's only the weevil kind left, but I'm saving that for some Victor fun."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but couldn't stop myself from grinning at the thought of Victor chowing down on some grub. Literally.

Wade hopped up onto the counter to watch me cook, "So, what's your power o mistress of eggs and bacon?"

"Power?" I said turning around to look at him, "Do I look as though I have a power?"

"Mmmm..." He said, deadly serious, "To my heart maybe."

"Or to other parts of your body," I mumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes as I searched for plates and cutlery.

Ben walked in as I plated up our breakfast, "Hey Shel."

Ben was even less of a morning person than I was, he was rubbing sleep out of his eyes and his hair looked as though several large birds had nested in it overnight.

Slapping one of Wade's hands away as he made a grab for one of the plates, I handed it instead to Ben.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

Wade pouted when I looked at him, but I just glared at him until he sighed and grabbed a beer out of the fridge instead.

"Real nutritional," I commented with raised eyebrows, indicating his choice of breakfast meals.

"Keeps me sane," Wade replied, winking.

Snorting under my breath, I joined my brother on the couch and awaited the arrival of the rest of Stryker's little team.

The four guys I had met yesterday, Wraith, Bolt, Zero and Victor, entered and all except Bolt followed Wade's example by downing their morning doses of alcohol. Along with them were two men we hadn't met yesterday, a muscular blonde guy who looked as though he could compete with Victor for who had the least brain cells and a handsome, equally muscular guy with brown hair and sideburns, who bore a faint resemblance to Victor. We were introduced by Wraith to them, the blonde guy was Fred and the other guy was James.

I attempted to smile nicely at them, but it was just way too early in the morning. James was looking at me rather strangely though; his eyebrows were creased deep in thought but he quickly shook it off and went to take a seat at the table.

From the other side of the room, Stryker walked in rubbing his hands together with apparent glee.

"Morning gentlemen," he said, deliberately ignoring me, "please head to the training area for a session, after which you will be briefed on your next mission."

"Um," I said, interrupting him, "What about me?"

"You can just stay out of trouble young lady." Stryker replied, giving me a stern glare.

I just rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.

After Stryker had left, Zero crossed the room to stand in front of me and Ben.

"Nice clothes," he commented trying not to laugh, "Are you sure they don't come in a bigger size?"

"Nice brain, does IT come in a bigger size?" I said rather defensively.

Ben snorted into his cereal, and the other guys in the team cracked up behind Zero.

"Whatever," Zero muttered, annoyed, "Just stay out of our way, Ben come with us to the training room."

"Come on, Shelly," Ben said to me, whilst ignoring Zero, "Let's go."

When we got to the training room, I went and sat on a mat against the wall, and settled in to watch the team train. Wraith and Fred immediately headed over to a punching bag whilst Bolt took up residence on a treadmill. James got out some weights and Wade and Zero got ready for some hand-to-hand combat. Victor apparently decided he was too good for whatever everyone else was doing because I saw him slink away to some corner but couldn't tell what he was doing over there. Probably trying to rub his two brain cells together to come up with a thought.

Ben had his own set of weights at home, so I saw him head over to where James was. I settled in for some extreme boredom, but it was instantly cured when I saw what Zero and Wade were doing.

Wade had his twin swords out and Zero had two guns, and they looked like they were going to kill each other. I had no problems with this of course, as long as they took Victor with them. Speaking of... I looked around but couldn't see Victor anywhere. Oh well, I shrugged, maybe he got lost. I quite liked that idea.

I still didn't see how Wade's swords would be any match for Zero's gun, considering their range, and well, death factor. Wade looked over and caught me watching. He winked at me from across the gym and turned to focus his attention on his soon-to-be murderer. I was soon at a loss for words, shocking-I know, but when Zero started to put bullets of death into Wade, the cocky but cute guy did this uber-awesome pattern dance with his swords and somehow magically managed to deflect them. Unluckily for me, one of them came in my direction.

Watching the bullet coming towards me, everything appeared in slow motion, just like in the movies. I could see it approaching, see the white blurry line it left behind it, watched Ben's eyes widen in horror... wait a minute.

I frowned, how would I have time to see all this, even if I was watching it as though my life was flashing before my eyes? Which, disappointingly, it wasn't.

The bullet was still tracing its way through the air towards me, but I could have sworn it should have impacted and subsequently given me an extra air hole by now. I looked away from the incoming bullet and saw different emotions on faces around the room. Most, like Ben and Wade, were in horror, whilst Zero looked satisfied, and Bolt just looked confused. Taking a step to the left, I got out of the bullet's path, and that's when, with an audible _snap, _everything popped back into place. The bullet flew so close past me that I felt the wind in its wake, and shattered on the wall behind me. Ben and Wade ran up to me, confused but relieved at the same time. Zero looked appalled that it had missed. Only James had his forehead creased in concentration. He was sitting up on his workout bench, one hand reaching for a cigar.

"Damn! Are you alright Shelly?" Ben questioned, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me a little just to make sure I was still alive.

Wade ran his hands through his hair, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to nearly kill you."

Ben rounded on Wade, eyes blazing with fury, "Well you could have!" He shouted, fists clenched by his sides, he really wanted to beat the crap out of Wade, I could tell.

"Geez, it was an accident!" Wade replied, an apologetic look in his eyes.

"It's...ok guys," I finally said, a little shaken up. Not that I would admit that in any court of law.

"No, it's not," Ben replied, still not looking at me, eyes only on Wade, "I don't think it's safe for you to be around these maniacs, we're leaving."

Suddenly, Victor appeared, although where he had been for the past ten minutes, only other creepy stalker guys would know. And maybe not even them. He was on his own level there.

"Tsk, tsk," he said to Ben, mockingly, "Don't you remember our little agreement? I thought you liked little Michelle here in one piece. Although," he said, looking me over, "I wouldn't mind having a little play with her."

Before he could say anything else, Ben socked him in the face. Victor, for all his agility and scary looks, crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. If potatoes could swear bloody murder that is.

Furious, he snapped his nose back into place, with a very audible and hideous sounding crunch, and leapt at Ben, claws where his fingernails should have been, extended. Almost too fast to watch, James hurled himself into Victor, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there. Before long the men were involved in a pretty rough looking tussle. No fights I had ever witnessed involved the snapping of bones and the rapid healing of nasty looking cuts. They also didn't have bone claws and guys who didn't know how to keep their comments to themselves.

"Come on," said Wraith, "let's go before Victor remembers why he got out of bed this morning."

Ignoring the fight, we trudged back towards the living quarters, Wade fingering his swords, deep in thought.

Ben noticed I still hadn't said much, and slung a brotherly arm around my shoulders, as we walked behind the group at a much slower pace.

"You ok?" he asked, "Want me to take care of anyone for you?"

Shaking my head I replied, "Nah, its ok. Save your luck for when we break out of this hell hole."

Ben raised his eyebrows with a grin, "Already working on it."


	5. A Weird Sighting

**Hi guys. I know it's been AGES since I've updated. This thing called Life keeps getting in the way. I should seriously do something about that, I know. But unfortunately, Shelly's not paying my bills so, until she starts (Shelly: Um, not likely pal) it's going to be a while in between chapters. However, every story favouriting, chapter alert and my personal favourite, review, gets sent to my email inbox which I check EVERY DAY. So the best way to light a fire under my ass if you want the next chapter is to do the above and keep me motivated. I'm counting on you guys. **

**Love, Bright-Eyed Athena. **

For Ben, the rest of the week progressed much as that first day had. For me, each day grew more and more boring as I was forbade by Ben to watch any more training. Seriously, over-protective much?

I whittled away the hours by making up games for myself, like 'How much stuffing can you pull out of the armchair before it starts losing its shape?' and 'How many pieces of cereal is in one packet? And can you use those pieces to draw a life size body outline on the kitchen floor?' (the answer is yes, but only if you use ALL the cereal) This game was always followed by 'See how long it takes to crunch all that cereal with your wicked stomping techniques'.

What? Don't judge me. I was bored.

After I had destroyed the eleventh consecutive box of cereal under my feet, it was decided by a unanimous vote (even Ben voted against me. What about all that 'blood is thicker than water' crap?) that I be allowed to roam around the complex a bit more and come back to the training. Apparently, some of the guys were going to teach me some skills. And if Zero was anything to go by, it would be how not to come up with witty retorts.

So the next day I participated in training by immediately leaving the living area after breakfast and sneaking around the complex. I thought it would be more exciting. I was seriously starting to hum the Mission Impossible theme song under my breath, but every hall way looked the same. I definitely did not recognise anything from when Stryker had led us through earlier. The doors didn't even have signs on them. Do they just expect everyone to have some uber-secret map on them at all times? Where can I get one? And would it have an 'exit' sign clearly marked?

I was thoroughly lost and not really caring, especially when I had such a loving, respected home to go back to. Suddenly, a hand clamped down on my shoulder and swung me around, I screamed, cursed and immediately made to jab my finger into my assailant's eyes. James just grabbed my hand in his much larger one and gave me a look that said 'Really?'

He pulled his ever present cigar from his mouth and hauled on me, dragging me in the opposite direction, "Come on, kid. We don't have all day."

"You can let me go, you know," I said, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge his iron grip from my arm, "I have two feet. They work. And I know how to use them."

I pointed at the limbs in question just in case he wasn't sure.

James rolled his eyes, "Well then why don't you march yourself back into the training room," he said, gesturing in the direction we were headed and letting go of me.

"But I was just giving myself a self-guided tour of your magnificent facility," I said, folding my arms over my chest, "And anyway, I don't need training. I know self defence and it starts with aiming my boot into your groin."

James frowned at me, "Look. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. And let me emphasise that neither way is hard for me."

But I wasn't paying attention to James' thinly veiled threat, as in the intersection of the next corridor over his shoulder I could see a girl standing there, and she looked eerily like me. Like if my reflection was better dressed and had nicer hair. But then again wearing a potato sack would be considered 'better dressed' than the baggy grey hoodie and sweat pants I currently had on.

"You aren't listening to me, are you?" said James. Not that I heard him.

I frowned and stepped towards her, feeling really, really confused. She shook her head at me and turned and ran down the left hand side of the corridor, out of my range of sight. I pushed past James, who muttered, "What now?", and half-jogged, half-ran to the intersection. I turned left only to discover a short hallway with only one door at the end. Creepy, I know. The girl had disappeared. I ran up to the door and pulled on the knob but it refused to allow me access. It had one of those keypad things on its side and even when I cleverly tried the combination '1234' it didn't open.

"You know," James said from behind me, "sometimes doors are locked to keep annoying kids away from them."

I turned and glared at him, "And sometimes you're a jerk."

He glared right back at me.

"What?" I said, widening my eyes and playing innocent, "I thought we were stating the obvious."

James grabbed my arm once again and resumed dragging me back to the training room, muttering something under his breath. All I could make out was 'annoying' and 'stab'.

When we finally returned to the training room, I saw that it had changed dramatically. And by that I mean that Bolt was now running on the treadmill instead of walking. Well, it was more of a jog.

Zero marched up to me like he had a hive of wasps up his ass. "Now that you've finally managed to join us, you can start by running laps of the room." He looked pretty smug.

"You know," I said casually pretending to think, "I don't actually have to listen to you."

I gave him my biggest smile and made to walk back out of the room, but James who was still standing behind me, grabbed my arm again and hauled me over to a large blue punching bag.

"Here," he said, handing me some boxing gloves, "Pretend it's his face." He pointedly looked at Zero.

I laughed. This would be fun.


	6. What's going on?

**Thanks for all the reviews and favouriting guys! I truly do appreciate all the support. For fans of A New Life, I'm aiming to write another chapter of that fic soon, so stay tuned guys! Also for TMNT fans, I've started a new fic called When all hope seems lost, please check it out. And seriously, every time I get a review, pm, story subscriber, story favourite, it motivates me to write the next chapter. So you know what you need to do if you want more ;D**

So after about 20 minutes of pulverising the punching bag into a different shape, I decided I'd had enough. I'm just not made for physical exercise. I have better things to do. What are these things you might ask? Anything that doesn't include being in a room with eight sweaty guys each fighting over who was the manliest. And I do have to limit my hot abs intake.

After making sure James was too engrossed in the how-ever-many-millions-of-tonnes he was lifting in the corner, I snuck back into the living area and plonked myself down in front of the tv that only worked when the tv gods were smiling upon me.

Not two seconds later, Zero showed up, a look of distain on his face, "Aren't you supposed to be in the training room?"

"Nope," I said, completely ignoring him and flicking channels on the tv.

"Get back in there. You're supposed to be training. Do I need to get Stryker in here-"

Yeah, I stopped listening after that point. There was some old drama show on tv and it was a million times more interesting. Although watching a snail do a lap around a racetrack would be more interesting than listening to he-of-the-Zero-intelligence.

"-Are you even listening to me? I should just shoot you right now, you're such a pain in the-"

God I wish he would stop yabbering. Couldn't he see I was trying to watch my show?

"-don't know why we should even bother with you. You're just going to be a complete-"

Argh. Shut up already Zero. He was starting to get on my last nerve.

"-team of professionals. We don't have time to waste on annoying children who don't-"

Something within me just snapped. I just wanted it to stop. Didn't he know how to not be such an ass? I turned to tell him that if he was going to keep yelling I was going to kick him so hard in the balls that I would be able to see my shoelaces coming out of his mouth when the noise just stopped. And I don't mean Zero's yelling. Everywhere. The tv was paused, the 'manly' grunting and the clinking of weights was gone too.

I turned to look at Zero and realised we must be playing a game of statues because he was doing a pretty good imitation of one. I raised an eyebrow, "Well, this is new. What? Ran out of words?"

He didn't reply. Or move a muscle. Frowning, I slowly got up from the couch and tentatively reached out to touch him. He was completely frozen. His face was even purple from all the yelling and his mouth was open in a snarl. I laughed; this was too funny to be freaky.

But seriously, what was going on? I walked back to the training room to find another room full of statues. James and Victor were frozen mid-weight lift and Wade was in the middle of a sweeping arch with his katana. Even Ben was frozen wiping sweat of his face with a towel. I backed out, slowly. Now I was starting to get scared. This was not normal. What was happening? The guys couldn't be playing some sort of prank on me could they? Yeah, that was probably it. I sat back down on the couch, "Ok, guys very funny. You got me. Now I'm definitely going to stomp on the cereal again."

Still there was no movement. "Please move," I whispered.

I felt another snap, and suddenly the world was back to normal.

"-know how to..." Zero trailed off, as I had vaulted off the couch and run back into the training room. The guys in there were working out, just as they had been before. Nothing had changed.

Ben saw the look on my face and came over, "Everything ok?" he asked.

I nodded. I was just having a strange day and was obviously having hallucinations.

"I think I might go lie down," I told him.

"Need some help with that?" Wade called out with a wink.

Ben turned to nail him with a glare, "No. She does not."

I winked back at Wade. What? He's cute.

Ben's POV

I hated it here. I could tell Shelly did too. Well, that wasn't too hard to figure out; she did crunch up all that cereal. There was something to be said for the other members of the team. Bolt, Wraith and Duke were ok. Zero was a pain in my ass. I was undecided about James. Victor would be better off in a body bag and Wade, well, if he ever looks at Shelly again, a body bag will be the least of his problems.

According to Zero, we're due for a mission soon. I'm not thrilled about leaving Shelly here alone, but I have my own mission for her while we're away. I've been using small amounts of power around the other guys and they have 'conveniently' been choosing to tell me some interesting bits of information. Like that Bolt can hack into anything. And that security on the east side could do with some tightening up.

We'll be free of this hell hole soon enough, Shelly. I promise.


End file.
